A Fairy Leapt Upon My Knee by Bea Howe

Most of you, my lovely readers, chose the obscure novel yesterday - which goes to show how lucky I am to have you lot reading my blog!  I'll probably end up writing about both - perhaps the well-known author will even pop up tomorrow in my absence, whilst I'm gallivanting in London.  Dark Puss suggested I wrote about the one I enjoyed more... well, I enjoyed this one more, but the other one was probably better.  (Other people used to that feeling?)As you might have spotted from the post title, this is an obscure book, but I have mentioned...

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The Readers

I'm going to be community minded again tonight (for which read: it's too late for me to write a proper book review) and point you in the direction of the latest episode of The Readers (click zee link).  For those not in the know, it's a podcast run by Simon S and Gav, covering all manner of bookish topics - always including plenty of recommendations for reading.This week's podcast features lovely Kim as a guest, and equally lovely Polly also pops up with her five favourite books (and a mention of me!)  The chief topic of discussion is book blogging...

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Henry Green Week with Stu

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments - they do mean the world to me.  I get very nervous about changing how my blog appears (goodness knows why I would get nervous about it, but... I do!) so I'm chuffed to bits. A quick post today - something I missed out of my last Weekend Miscellany, because I hadn't spotted it - Stu (from the blog Winston's Dad) is planning Henry Green Week January 23-29 next year.  I announced all the way back in May that I intended to read some of my newly-acquired Henry Green novels soon.  And, of course,...

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Playing - and Song for a Sunday

After four and a half years, it felt like time for a little face-lift.   I have made myself a Blog Header for the first time! I hope you like it - the pictures I chose felt appropriate, and the paper-background is actually from a page of A Fairy Leapt Upon My Knee - the copy I own signed by David Garnett!   That's the same paper that forms my new background.  I have waved goodbye to my dots... for now, at least.(Comment facilities back to normal, after all that kerfuffle, so I hope it works.  Or works as well as anyone else suffering the vagaries of Blogger, that is!  As...

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Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I am not best pleased, as the post I spent 45 minutes writing just disappeared. Darn it darn it darn it. Well, I'll try again, but I might be a little less insouciant than usual...Firstly, I have yet to reach the end of the tunnel when it comes to comments. Apparently some of you can't see other people's comments - curiouser and curiouser! I think this might be people using Internet Explorer - can I recommend the all-round-nicer Firefox! I'm going to keep the new comment format for the next few days, and if the problems don't clear up then I'll probably...

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November

So far in November I have...Tried and failed to take a photo of Sherpa.Tried and succeeded to take a photo of Sherpa.  (Doesn't she look daft?)Taken a photo of my Mum playing Scrabble.  (She was less likely to scamper away.)Made a road-trip-themed-collage-covered notebook for my housemate Mel.Taken icing sugar from a box of kitchen stuff left on the street.Appreciated autumn.Attended a proper village Christmas fayre.Gone jumping in the street.I've also done a fair amount of reading, but people tend not to take photos whilst I'm doing it. ...

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Update on Comments... or what to do in the Face of Peril and Troubles

[this page has been edited to be used as a comments-help...] I've changed the way comments work - they are now on the main screen, rather than a separate window.  You are able to reply to individual comments (this will bring up a new window - simply add your comment after the HTML string.)People have reported problems, of not being able to see other people's comments.  This mostly seems to be the case with Internet Explorer - I recommend downloading the all-round-nicer Firefox or Google Chrome! If this isn't working please do email me (simondavidthomas[at]yahoo.co.uk) or tell me...

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Living Alone by Stella Benson

You're probably quite used, by now, to my taste for odd books.  My doctoral research into fantastic novels has disproportionately weighted my blog towards ladies turning into foxes, imaginary children coming to life, old ladies being invented by accident etc.  So perhaps you'll forgive me if another title hoves into view, which somebody mentioned to me in relation to Lolly Willowes, since it's also about witches.  Living Alone (1919) by Stella Benson, as the post title suggests, is that book.  Before I get any further, I should mention...

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The Spinster - 100 years ago

I've mentioned before that I'm writing about spinsters in the early twentieth-century.  I find it a fascinating topic, and I know that many of you do too.  We all have access to wonderful spinster novels such as Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair, The Love Child by Edith Olivier, Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson etc. etc., but having the Bodleian at my lucky little fingertips does give me more scope than many.  Having read an article called 'The Spinster', published in a journal called...

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Comments and the possibility that they have in some way become unhelpful...

Apparently quite a few people are having problems posting comments - I don't know if that's just for my blog, or for Blogger in general. If you've had trouble, would you mind letting me know at simondavidthomas[at]yahoo.co.uk, just so I know the scale of the issue! And if there are any comments you'd like to make, and can't, I'll post them on your behalf...

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Two Readers; One Day

So, Claire (Paperback Reader) and I had both read One Day by David Nicholls, along with seemingly everyone else in the world, and we both wanted to put up posts on it.  But we thought it might be fun to do something a bit different.  We're having a real-time conversation via email, and will post the results on both our blogs... hopefully it'll have the feel of a book group, but with the bonus that we can edit ourselves to sound better!  For a conversation covering not only One Day but Thomas Hardy, Mr. Darcy, and what constitutes good writing...

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Song for a Sunday

I recently got a lovely covers album called Birdy and, er, by Birdy.  This is the first song she released from it - a cover of Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love'.  She has such a nice tone to her voice, it's a bit weird to discover that she's only 15 years old.To watch other Sunday Songs, click he...

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Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Our Vicar's Wife is staying at the moment, so give her a cheery wave.  Thanks!Feeling sleepy this weekend, so we'll move straight onto the book, blog, and link - although I'll whisper a little advance warning for Monday... I'll be trying something a bit different, and another blogger will be along to help me...1.) The book - came from the lovely people at Sort Of books, responsible for the wonderful Tove Jansson editions and my recently-reviewed Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles.  Basically, their books are beautiful and they don't put a foot wrong. ...

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Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau

Thanks for your lovely comments on my Holywell Cemetery post - I was a bit tentative about sharing that side of my interests, but lots of us seem to have similar activities!  I'm sorry my responses to comments have been lax of late - will get onto that soon. Since my 26th birthday has come and gone, it's about time I finished writing about the books I received for my 25th birthday, isn't it?  Well, truth be told, I've yet to read all of them, but I have read one of those given to me by Colin: Exercises in Style (1947) by Raymond Queneau.Oddly enough,...

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Feeling Grave

Whenever I wander from the topic of books, it's inevitable that I'll leave some of my lovely literary readers behind - just because you like books doesn't mean you'll share my taste in CDs, films, cakes, cats, donkeys... but today's post might alienate even more than usual!  Because I'm going to write about graveyards.  Well, not really graveyards-plural, just graveyard-singular: Holywell Cemetery.  It's attached to St. Cross Church in Oxford, where I used to worship, and which closed down three years ago (see my post here.)  I had half...

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The Only Way Is (Mary) Essex

Sue, Ann, and Erika were all intrigued by the opening to Tea Is So Intoxicating by Mary Essex, which I posted the other day, and asked if I would say a bit more about her.  Here are those lines again:It is highly probable that the tea shop would never have started at all if Commander David Tompkins hadn't fancied himself at being something of a dab-hand at cooking.Well, never let it be said that I ignore the cries of my people.  I do misinterpret them a bit - because I don't remember all that much about Tea Is So Intoxicating, I decided to read...

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